The Doomsday 1968 Chevy Impala

Dave Evans and Andy Bennett operate Never Again Drag Racing out of their garage—known as the “bomb shelter”—in Lancashire, England. Both men were veterans of restorations of ’60s Impalas sent from the U.S., so when they felt the urge to build a drag-racing car, they turned stateside once again for a fullsize project vehicle. Amazingly, the Doomsday Impala runs 8.90s at Santa Pod. See more pics and videos at 68Impala.co.uk.

[02.2007]

The guys called Jon Krogh in Wisconsin to help them find a suitable donor. Jon found Jacob Rubio’s ’68 Impala in Antioch, California. The car was relatively rust-free and had already been stripped of its drivetrain, interior, trim, and glass. Perfect!

[06.2007]

The car arrived in Lancashire after a 5,200-mile trip that included shipping from Houston, Texas, to Suffolk, England.

[07.2007]

Finishing what Jacob had started, the guys stripped the body and began smoothing the quarters.

8/1311.2007

[09.2007]

Freshly coated in primer, the car’s shell was strapped to a dolly and moved to Webster Race Engineering (Webster-Race-Engineering.com.uk), where Jon Webster set to work on an SFI 25.2 door-slammer chassis using chrome-moly tubing. The 25.2 safety spec is for full-bodied cars no heavier than 3,200 pounds and allows e.t.’s of 7.49 and quicker.

[10.2007]

Back from Webster with a certified ’cage, Alan O’Connor and Warren Jenkinson worked on adding brackets to the frame and skinning the interior with aluminum.

[11.2007]

There isn’t much call for 1968 Impala fiberglass one-piece front clips, so to get one the guys welded up their front clip, closed in the grille, and primered it all before sending it to Dale Edmonds at DRE Racecar Composites. They also sent the doors and trunk lid. Dale made molds from those parts and created fiberglass panels.

Dave’s 1970 Camaro drag car was to be sold to fund the purchase of a Jeff Bull 632-inch big-block Chevy, but the market on 9.2-second drag cars was weak, so they chose to pull the Camaro’s 489 engine and Turbo 400 trans for the Impala instead. The engine runs AFR 335cc heads and a solid-roller cam with 0.750-inch lift. It runs on methanol.

9/1303.2009

[03.2009]

After 16 months of weekend and evening wrenching, the chassis was stripped down and moved to neighboring Autoline Paint and Body, where Fred Cooke and Stacy Sabri prepped and painted the chassis.

[04.2009]

Apparently, painters in England work faster than those in the U.S. The chassis was put back together and rolling soon after the chassis paint dried.

[01.2010]

Chris Rushton airbrushed the grille and headlights onto the front clip after it was painted by Autoline.

[06.2010]

Autoline painted the car BMW code 870 Electric Blue Metallic, which was chosen due to its similarity to Grotto Blue, a ’68 factory color.

13/1302.2011

[02.2011]

Finally, 1,518 days after it left California and 1,376 days after beginning construction, the Doomsday Impala was finished. Despite its size, it pulls the front wheels and runs consistent 8.90-second passes.

Sending a Car to the UK

Want to ship a car from the U.S. to England? Prices vary quite a bit between the two standard methods: sending the car in a shipping container or going with what’s called RO-RO for roll-on, roll-off. The container is the safest way to go and can run $4,000–$7,000, depending on the port. The RO-RO is much cheaper—at $1,800 to $2,500—but the car needs to be in perfect mechanical condition so it can be driven on and off the ship with no hassle.

With either method, you’ll want insurance for $200–$500 or more, depending on the value of the car—and expect another few hundred bucks in taxes and fees at the destination port. The registration and title for the car must be in legal order, which means we’ll never be sending a car overseas.

Imp Info

In 1968, the SS package on the Impala was a $179 option and could be had with any engine package, including the inline-six. Chevrolet built more than 700,000 1968 Impalas.

Got Pics?
If you’ve built or restored your car and have documented it in pictures every step of the way, we might be able to use your story in HOT ROD.Contact us to find out.Mail: Hot Rod Start To Finish, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245.Email:hotrod@HotRod.com.